Filed To Story: Sunrise on the Reaping Book PDF Free
Clerk Carmine takes a step forward, but Tam Amber lays a hand on his arm, and he just resigns himself to a parting shot. “Don’t make us come down to fetch you, young lady.” The uncles head back to the house.
Suddenly, I feel a burst of affection for Clerk Carmine. We both really want the same thing: for Lenore Dove to be safe and happy. And he was right. About his concerns over me, I mean. A boy from a rebel family who brews white liquor and disappears for hours with his niece in the woods does not spell security. Plus, I’m not even musical. I think I would have won him over eventually, if I’d had the chance. But now, it consoles me some that when I run away, he will be here guarding her. I guess I’ll never have a chance to tell him so, but it’s true.
As I wait to be sure the coast is clear, I soak up the loveliness of Lenore Dove. She spins around, head back, arms lifted to the sky. It must have been hell for her being locked up. She can’t stand for anything to be confined. Especially wild things, which, of course, she is. The geese run around, chewing her out for being gone. She just sweet-talks them and strokes their necks. She’s about to roost on her favorite rock when she gives an exclamation of surprise and scoops something up.
It’s my bag of gumdrops. The ones I had Sid deliver to her after the reaping. I guess she left them here before she went to perform that night. She presses the candy to her heart and twirls around, grinning, then breaks into the little white bag. I can’t wait another second. As I take off across the Meadow, she catches sight of me, cries out my name, and runs to meet me. I sweep her into my arms and spin her around and we’re both laughing and kissing like crazy.
“Oh, Lenore Dove. Oh, my love,” I say.
“You came back,” she says, tears streaming, but happy tears. “You came back to me. In this world!”
“And you managed not to get hung!” I crow back.
We hold each other so tight it’s like we’re one person. Which we are, for real.
Her hands run over my face. “Are you okay? Are you really all right?’
“As right as rain,” I promise her. I don’t care, I can’t leave her. She’ll want to run away with me, and I’ll let her. We’ll figure out a way to live. Because I don’t think either of us can live without the other.
We sink into the Meadow grass, hands clasped. She reaches for the bag of gumdrops that she dropped in our reunion. “Thanks for the candy. Gosh, look how hard I’m shaking!”
“Here,” I say, taking the bag, not that I’m any steadier. I pluck a sweet from the bag and pop it in her mouth.
She laughs. “Now you’re home, I guess I can eat the others.”
“What others?” I feed her another gumdrop.
“The ones Sid brought me. I put them under my pillow.”
“But . . .” I look down at the bag. It’s a normal bag, with the Donners’ label. Then I notice the gumdrops. Not a variety of colors. Not a rainbow. They’re all a deep bloodred. I remember Snow’s rose, his final words to me, and the pieces fall into place.
“Spit it out!” I order her, cupping my hand before her mouth. “Spit it out now!”
Her face registers shock as she spits a half-chewed gumdrop into my palm. “What? It’s fine.”
“Where’s the other? Where’s the first one?” I give her a shake.
“I swallowed it, I guess. Why?”
“Throw it up! Get it out of your stomach!”
She’s panicking now. “What’s going on, Haymitch?”
I think of the arena. “Do you all have any charcoal tablets at the house?”
“Charcoal tablets? No, I don’t think so. Why would -” I see her put it together. She leans over, sticks a finger down her throat, and tries to gag the thing up. “I can’t do it. I’ve barely eaten in days. There’s nothing to throw up!”
“Come on,” I pull her to her feet. “Come on.” I begin to call for help. “Clerk Carmine!
Clerk Carmine!”
“Haymitch, I -” A perplexed look crosses her face and she presses a hand to her chest. Her knees give way. “I can’t stand up.”
I pull her back to her feet. “You’ve got to! Just get to the house.” I throw back my head and scream, “Clerk Carmine! Help! Help us!” She collapses into my arms. I kneel back on the ground, her body across mine. “Lenore Dove . . .” I plead. “Don’t. Don’t.” A blood-flecked foam bubbles up over her lips. “Oh, no . . . no . . .”
Her eyes fixate on something in the distance. “See that?” she says hoarsely.
I turn my head and see the sun, just peeking over the horizon. “What? The sun?”
“Don’t you . . . let it . . . rise . . .” she gets out.
Tears choke me. “I can’t stop it. You know I can’t stop it.”
Her head jerks a bit to the side. “. . . on the reaping,” she whispers.
Oh, no. Don’t leave me with that. Don’t leave me at all. “Lenore Dove? Please try and hold on, darling. Lenore Dove?”
“Promise.” Her eyelids flutter shut.
“Okay, okay, I promise. But you can’t go. You can’t leave me. Because I love you like all-fire.”
“You, too.” I think that’s what her lips said.
New Book: Returned To Make Them Pay
On her wedding anniversary, Alicia is drugged and stumbles into the wrong room—straight into the arms of the powerful Caden Ward, a man rumored never to touch women. Their night of passion shocks even him, especially when he discovers she’s still a virgin after two years of marriage to Joshua Yates.